Kick Off: No US shake-up on Klinsmann's first day on job

So there was no news of a major shake-up in the US national team system or other bombastic statements that some media experts were predicting from Jurgen Klinsmann’s introductory press conference yesterday.

However, Klinsmann did indirectly state that Mexico is a better team than the US today when he said that El Tri was “a top 10 team in the world.” Then when referencing to the USA he says: “We have quite a way to go still before we break into the top 10 of the world.”

Expect this US national team boss to take a greater interest in what’s being done at the youth levels than any of his predecessors and for the first time work to integrate the senior team’s style with the game played by the younger age groups: “There are a lot of different challenges ahead of us, especially in the foundation level, and the foundation is youth.”

The coaching staff will also be a work in progress for the former German international: “I won’t bring in a staff right away. I will work with some people that I know just to get my feet wet over the next couple of weeks, but I’d also like to meet with people in the US soccer environment that I don’t know.”

The big question ahead of Toronto FC’s CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round second leg match tonight in Nicaragua against Real Estelí is who will manager Aron Winter line up in goal? Back-up Milos Kocic gave up the all-important away goal to Real Estelí in the first leg, leaving TFC with a slim 2-1 advantage (10 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer).